Contents

Carlo Tiberi Romano, New and faithful report of the terrible and frightening earthquake in Matrice and its State (Rome, 1639)

The princes Orsini left the city destroyed by the earthquake,[4] whose shock lasted fifteen minutes and caused about 500 deaths (although many bodies remained under the rubble). Damage was estimated between 400,000 and 1 million scudi of the time.[5]

Many inhabitants fled to the countryside, where tents were set up, while others found refuge in the church of San Domenico.[2] Among the buildings destroyed or badly damaged, there were: the princes Orsini's palace[7] (that at the time of the earthquake they were out of town), the Palazzo del Reggimento (Regiment's palace), the church of the Holy Crucifix, and other houses.[2]Rosaries and processions were organized by the people to invoke the end of earthquakes.[2] There were also heavy losses of the cattle (the main source of income at the time), which forced the population to migrate to Rome and Ascoli Piceno.[5]

The effects of the earthquake were described in detail in a report published by Carlo Tiberi in 1639, subsequently revised and updated in a second edition of the same year.

1.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world

2.
Orsini family
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The Orsini family is an Italian noble family, it was one of the most influential princely families in medieval Italy and renaissance Rome. Members of the Orsini include popes Celestine III, Nicholas III, according to their family legend, the Orsini are descended from the Julio-Claudian family of ancient Rome. This is fanciful, as is the connection to the German families of Anhalt, Baden. The Orsini were related to the Boboni family existing in Rome in the 11th century, the first members always used the surname of Boboni-Orsini. The first known member is one Bobone, in the early 11th century, father of Pietro, in turn father of Giacinto dei Boboni. The Boboni surname was lost with his children, who were called de domo filiorum Ursi, two of them, Napoleone and Matteo Rosso the Great considerably increased the prestige of the family. The former was the founder of the first southern line, which disappeared with Camillo Pardo in 1553 and he obtained the city of Manoppello, later a countship, and was gonfaloniere of the Papal States. Matteo Rosso, called the Great, was the lord of Rome from 1241. Two of his sons and Napoleone were also Senators, Matteo ousted the traditional rivals, the Colonna, from Rome and extended the Orsini territories southwards up to Avellino and northwards to Pitigliano. During his life the family entered firmly in the Guelph party, the most distinguished of his sons was Giovanni Gaetano, elected pope as Nicholas III, he named the nephew Bertoldo as count of Romagna and had two nephews and a brother created cardinals. The rise of the Orsini did not stop after Nicholas death, bertoldos son, Gentile II, was two times Senator of Rome, podestà of Viterbo and, from 1314, Gran Giustiziere of the Kingdom of Naples. He married Clarice Ruffo, daughter of the counts of Catanzaro and his son Romano, called Romanello, was Royal Vicar of Rome in 1326, and inherited the countship of Soana through his marriage with Anastasia de Montfort, Countess of Nola. After his death, his two sons divided his fiefs, forming the Pitigliano and the southern line. Roberto, Gentile IIs grandson, married Sibilla del Balzo, daughter of the Great Senechal of the Kingdom of Naples, among his sons, Giacomo was created cardinal by Gregory XI in 1371, while Nicola obtained the counties of Ariano and Celano. The latter was also Senator of Rome and enlarged the territories in Lazio. His second son, Raimondello Orsini del Balzo, supported Charles III coup détat in Naples against Queen Joan I, under king Ladislaus he was among the few Neapolitan feudataries who were able to maintain their territorial power after the royal war against them. However, at his death in 1406 the southern Orsini fiefs were confiscated, the links with the court increased further under Sergianni Caracciolo, Joans lover and Great Senechal. A younger brother of Giannantonio married one of Sergiannis daughters, however, the Orsini changed side when Alfonso V of Aragon started his conquest of the Kingdom of Naples

3.
Ascoli Piceno
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Ascoli Piceno is a town and comune in the Marche region of Italy, capital of the province of the same name. Its population is around 49,500 but the area of the city has more than 100,000. The town lies at the confluence of the Tronto River and the small river Castellano and is surrounded on three sides by mountains, two natural parks border the town, one on the northwestern flank and the other on the southern. Ascoli has good connections to the Adriatic coast and the city of San Benedetto del Tronto, by highway to Porto dAscoli. In 268 BC it became a civitas foederata, a city with nominal independence from Rome. In 91 BC, together with cities in central Italy, it revolted against Rome. Its inhabitants acquired Roman citizenship, following the developments and the fall of the Roman Republic. During the Middle Ages Ascoli was ravaged by the Ostrogoths and then by the Lombards of King Faroald, in 1189 a free republican municipality was established but internal strife led dramatically to the demise of civic values and freedom and to unfortunate ventures against neighboring enemies. This unstable situation opened the way to foreign dictatorships, like those of Galeotto I Malatesta, initially recruited as a mercenary in the war against Fermo, Sforza was ousted in 1482, but Ascoli was again compelled to submit to the Papal suzerainty. In 1860 it was annexed, together with Marche and Umbria, many of the buildings in the central historical part of the city are built using marble called travertino, a grey-hued stone extracted from the surrounding mountains. Its central Renaissance square, Piazza del Popolo is surrounded by a number of buildings utilizing this stone, according to traditional accounts, Ascoli Piceno once housed some two hundred towers in the Middle Ages, today some fifty can still be seen. Main sights include, Cathedral of SantEmidio, dedicated to Saint Emygdius, Tempietto di SantEmidio alle Grotte Tempietto di SantEmidio Rosso San Francesco, Gothic style church begun in 1258). The dome was completed in 1549, a monument to Pope Julius II is in the side portal, while the central portal is one of the finest examples of local travertine decoration. Adjacent to the church is the 16th-century Loggia dei Mercanti, in Bramantesque style of the Roman High Renaissance, convent of San Francesco, adjacent to the above-named church, of which two noteworthy cloisters remain today. The rectangular façade has a 1547 portal similar to that of SantEmidio, the convent houses the town library, the Contemporary Art Gallery and an auditorium. San Domenico, former convent, now school, has a Renaissance cloister with 17th-century frescoes, santa Maria Inter Vineas, 13th century church San Pietro Martire, 13th century church with a 1523 side portal by Nicola Filotesio, known locally as Cola dAmatrice. The interior contains the precious reliquary of the Holy Thorn, a gift of Philip IV of France, San Tommaso,1069 Romanesque-style church built with spolia from the neighboring Roman amphitheater. San Vittore, Romanesque church documented from 996 with a low bell tower, edicola di Morelli, Monumental baroque niche attached to the exterior of the church of San Francesco at the Piazza del Popolo

4.
Wikisource
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Wikisource is an online digital library of free content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project, the projects aims are to host all forms of free text, in many languages, and translations. Originally conceived as an archive to store useful or important historical texts, the project officially began in November 24,2003 under the name Project Sourceberg. The name Wikisource was adopted later that year and it received its own domain name seven months later, the project has come under criticism for lack of reliability but it is also cited by organisations such as the National Archives and Records Administration. The project holds works that are either in the domain or freely licensed, professionally published works or historical source documents, not vanity products. Verification was initially made offline, or by trusting the reliability of digital libraries. Now works are supported by online scans via the ProofreadPage extension, some individual Wikisources, each representing a specific language, now only allow works backed up with scans. While the bulk of its collection are texts, Wikisource as a whole hosts other media, some Wikisources allow user-generated annotations, subject to the specific policies of the Wikisource in question. Wikisources early history included several changes of name and location, the original concept for Wikisource was as storage for useful or important historical texts. These texts were intended to support Wikipedia articles, by providing evidence and original source texts. The collection was focused on important historical and cultural material. The project was originally called Project Sourceberg during its planning stages, in 2001, there was a dispute on Wikipedia regarding the addition of primary source material, leading to edit wars over their inclusion or deletion. Project Sourceberg was suggested as a solution to this, perhaps Project Sourceberg can mainly work as an interface for easily linking from Wikipedia to a Project Gutenberg file, and as an interface for people to easily submit new work to PG. Wed want to complement Project Gutenberg--how, exactly, and Jimmy Wales adding like Larry, Im interested that we think it over to see what we can add to Project Gutenberg. It seems unlikely that primary sources should in general be editable by anyone -- I mean, Shakespeare is Shakespeare, unlike our commentary on his work, the project began its activity at ps. wikipedia. org. The contributors understood the PS subdomain to mean either primary sources or Project Sourceberg, however, this resulted in Project Sourceberg occupying the subdomain of the Pashto Wikipedia. A vote on the name changed it to Wikisource on December 6,2003. Despite the change in name, the project did not move to its permanent URL until July 23,2004, since Wikisource was initially called Project Sourceberg, its first logo was a picture of an iceberg

5.
1693 Sicily earthquake
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The 1693 Sicily earthquake struck parts of southern Italy near Sicily, Calabria and Malta on January 11 at around 21,00 local time. This earthquake was preceded by a damaging foreshock on January 9 and it had an estimated magnitude of 7. The earthquake was followed by tsunamis that devastated the coastal villages on the Ionian Sea, almost two thirds of the entire population of Catania were killed. The epicentre of the disaster was probably close to the coast, possibly offshore, Sicily lies on part of the complex convergent boundary where the African Plate is subducting beneath the Eurasian Plate. This subduction zone is responsible for the formation of the stratovolcano Mount Etna, most damaging earthquakes however, occur on the Siculo-Calabrian rift zone. Faults in the Calabrian segment were responsible for the 1783 Calabrian earthquakes sequence, in the southern part of the eastern coast of Sicily, investigations have identified a series of active normal faults, dipping to the east. Most of these lie offshore and some control basins that contain large thicknesses of Quaternary sediments, the two largest faults, known as the western and eastern master faults, border half-grabens with fills of up to 700 metres and 800 metres respectively. A destructive earthquake occurred two days before the mainshock at 21,00 local time, centered in the Val di Noto and it had an estimated magnitude of 6.2 and a maximum perceived intensity of VIII–XI on the Mercalli intensity scale. Intensities of VIII or higher have been estimated for Augusta, Avola Vecchia, Floridia, Melilli, Noto Antica, Catania, Francofonte, Lentini, Scicli, Sortino and Vizzini. Augusta lies well outside the zone of severe shaking, its extensive damage is probably due to its construction on unconsolidated sediments. From the shape and location of the area of maximum damage, the earthquake lasted for four minutes, according to contemporary accounts. The estimated magnitude of 7.4 is taken from the extent and degree of the recorded damage, the source of the January 11 earthquake is debated. A landslide origin is supported by the observation of possible landslide bodies along the Hyblean-Malta escarpment, historic documents in the Archivo General de Simancas mention dozens of aftershocks, some as late as August 1694, and some reportedly as strong as the initial quake of January 11,1693. Aftershocks continued until at least 1696, with their effects concentrated in towns along the coast, the tsunami triggered by the earthquake affected most of the Ionian Sea coast of Sicily, about 230 kilometres in all. The first thing that was noted at all localities affected was a withdrawal of the sea, the maximum inundation of about 1.5 kilometres was recorded at Mascali. Tsunami deposits linked to the 1693 tsunami have been found both onshore and offshore, at Ognina, just south of Syracuse, at the head of a ria, a sequence containing several coarse clastic layers has been found, inconsistent with its lagoonal setting. The uppermost coarse layer, which has a strongly erosive base, the layer has been dated as 17th to 18th century based on pottery shards and one well-preserved clay pipe, consistent with the 1693 tsunami. Offshore from Augusta, a sequence identified using chirp sonar data was sampled with a 6.7 metres gravity core in 72 metres of water, the uppermost two events correlate well with the tsunamis from the 1908 Messina earthquake and the 1693 earthquake

6.
1908 Messina earthquake
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The 1908 Messina earthquake occurred on 28 December in Sicily and Calabria, southern Italy with a moment magnitude of 7.1 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI. The cities of Messina and Reggio Calabria were almost completely destroyed, on Monday 28 December 1908, from about 05,20 to 05,21, an earthquake of 7.1 on the moment magnitude scale occurred. Its epicentre was in the Strait of Messina which separates the port city of Messina in Sicily. Its precise epicentre has been pinpointed to the northern Ionian Sea area close to the narrowest section of the Strait and it had a depth of 5–6 miles. At least 91% of structures in Messina were destroyed or irreparably damaged and some 75,000 people were killed in the city, Reggio Calabria and other locations in Calabria also suffered heavy damage, with some 25.000 people killed. Reggios historic centre was almost completely eradicated. The number of casualties is based on the 1901 and 1911 census data and it was the most destructive earthquake to ever strike Europe. The ground shook for some 30 to 40 seconds, and the damage was widespread, in Calabria, the ground shook violently from Scilla to south of Reggio, provoking landslides inland in the Reggio area and along the sea-cliff from Scilla to Bagnara. In the Calabrian commune of Palmi on the Tyrrhenian coast, there was almost total devastation that left 600 dead, damage was also inflicted along the eastern Sicilian coast, but outside of Messina, it was not as badly hit as Calabria. The mesoseismal area was confined near the coast along a 1–4 km wide belt that shook and destroyed Messina, catania, the largest city in eastern Sicily, did not incur notable damage. a circular motion. The elevated death toll was due to the fact that most people were asleep, thousands were trapped under debris, suffering horrific injuries of which many would die. One week before the earthquake,160,000 inhabitants were counted in the entire Messina commune, about ten minutes after the earthquake, the sea on both sides of the Strait suddenly withdrew a 12-meter tsunami swept in, and three waves struck nearby coasts. It impacted hardest along the Calabrian coast and inundated Reggio Calabria after the sea had receded 70 meters from the shore, the entire Reggio seafront was destroyed and numbers of people who had gathered there perished. Nearby Villa San Giovanni was also badly hit, along the coast between Lazzaro and Pellaro, houses and a railway bridge were washed away. In Messina, the tsunami also caused more devastation and deaths, the second and third tsunami waves, coming in rapid succession and higher than the first, raced over the harbour, smashed boats docked at the pier, and broke parts of the sea wall. The ships that were attached to their moorings collided with one another. Afterwards Messina harbour was filled with floating wreckage and the corpses of drowned people, towns and villages along the eastern coast of Sicily were assaulted by high waves causing deaths and damage to boats and property. Two hours later the tsunami struck Malta, about 2000 people were killed by the tsunami in Messina, the eastern coast of Sicily, and in Reggio Calabria and its coastal environs. The Messina shoreline was irrevocably altered as large sections of the coast had sunk several feet into the sea, houses, churches, palaces and monuments, military barracks, commercial, municipal and public buildings had all collapsed entirely or were severely damaged

7.
2009 L'Aquila earthquake
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The 2009 LAquila earthquake occurred in the region of Abruzzo, in central Italy. There have been several thousand foreshocks and aftershocks since December 2008, the earthquake was felt throughout central Italy,308 people are known to have died,1,600 people were injured, making this the deadliest earthquake to hit Italy since the 1980 Irpinia earthquake. On 22 October 2012, six scientists and one ex-government official were convicted of manslaughter for downplaying the likelihood of a major earthquake six days before it took place. They were each sentenced to six years imprisonment, on 10 November 2014, the scientists convicted of manslaughter for failing to predict the deadly earthquake have had the verdict overturned. This earthquake was caused by movement on a NW-SE trending normal fault according to moment tensor solutions, the extension is due to the back-arc basin in the Tyrrhenian Sea opening faster than the African Plate is colliding with the Eurasian Plate. The earthquake was reported to measure 6.3 on the moment magnitude scale, earthquakes mark the history of LAquila, a city built on the bed of an ancient lake, providing a soil structure that amplifies seismic waves. The city was struck by earthquakes in 1315,1349,1452,1501,1646,1703,1706 and 1958, the earthquake of February 1703, which caused devastation across much of central Italy, largely destroyed the city and killed around 5,000 people. The earthquake caused damage to between 3,000 and 11,000 buildings in the city of LAquila. Twenty of the victims were children, around 65,000 people were rendered homeless. Human Losses, The L’Aquila earthquake was a case for officials. It was a small earthquake, located at the center of a highly developed nation with excellent infrastructure. However, numerous mass media had started by reporting zero fatalities, BBC still reported only 108 dead 16 hours after the disaster struck, when QLARM had already distributed 22 minutes after the earthquake an estimate of 275 ±250 fatalities. Granted, the bar is large and there are reasons for that. A description of QLARM and recent estimates of losses due to earthquakes worldwide in real time can be found at http. Fatality reports by the media as a function of time, compared to the QLARM calculation distributed 22 minutes after the L’Aquila earthquake, the ultimate fatalities count is indicated by the square. The QLARM uncertainty is given by the vertical bar, the source for reports is the NINTRAS web site of the Swiss Seismological Service. Only new maximum reports are plotted, the main earthquake was preceded by two smaller earthquakes the previous day. The earthquake was felt as far away as Rome, in parts of Lazio, as well as Marche, Molise

8.
2012 Northern Italy earthquakes
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In May 2012, two major earthquakes occurred in Northern Italy, causing 27 deaths and widespread damage. The first earthquake, registering magnitude 6.1, struck in the Emilia-Romagna region, about 36 kilometres north of the city of Bologna, the epicentre was between Finale Emilia, Bondeno and Sermide. Two aftershocks of magnitude 5.2 occurred, one approximately an hour after the main event and these blind thrust faults are roughly WNW-ESE trending, parallel to the mountain front, and dip shallowly towards the south-southwest. Several damaging historical earthquakes, such as the 1570 Ferrara earthquake, have occurred in the area, the 20 May earthquake sequence began with a magnitude 4.0 foreshock at 01,13 local time. Less than three hours later, at 04,04 local time the biggest of these occurred with magnitude 6.1 between Finale Emilia and SantAgostino. This strong quake destroyed all the churches and many of the factories in the area, in San Carlo more than 350 families lost their houses. Within the next nine days, there were six aftershocks exceeding magnitude 5,28 of magnitude 4–5 and 139 of magnitude 3–4, the mainshock could be felt as far away as Switzerland. The focal mechanism indicates that the earthquake was a result of thrust faulting and this type of faulting is consistent with the regional tectonic setting. On 29 May, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit the same area, the hypocentre has been estimated at 5–10 kilometres below Mirandola. A series of two or three, according to different sources, strong aftershocks with magnitudes larger than 5 occurred at between 12,55 and 13,02 local time. The 09,00 shock and the 13,00 shocks were felt throughout Northern Italy, the 09,00 earthquake could be felt in Austria, Switzerland, and Croatia, with reports of swaying buildings in Austria. The two large aftershocks at 12,55 and 13,02 could also be felt in Austria and this earthquake had a similar mechanism to the 20 May shock. This earthquake, like the earthquake of 20 May, was distinctly felt in Trentino Alto Adige. It was especially felt on the floors of buildings both in Trento and Bolzano, and created some concern among residents. On 6 June at 06,08 local time, a magnitude 4.5 earthquake hit 50 km further east with an epicenter off the coast of Ravenna in Romagna at a depth 25.6 km. This earthquake was generated by an other than that responsible for the earthquakes of 20 and 29 May in Emilia. Initial reports after the 20 May shock listed seven dead, including four workers at a factory in Ferrara, at least 100 structures of historical significance have been damaged or destroyed. Many churches in towns around the epicentre suffered damage, one of the towers of Castello Estense, a moated medieval structure in the centre of Ferrara, was damaged in the earthquake

9.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth

10.
1915 Avezzano earthquake
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The 1915 Avezzano earthquake occurred on January 13 in central Italy at 07,52,42 local time. The shock had a moment magnitude of 6.7 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI, the epicenter was located in the town of Avezzano in the Province of LAquila. Around 30,000 direct fatalities and $60 million in damage resulted from the earthquake, central and southern Italy in particular have been earthquake zones for over 300 years, with the deadliest earthquake dating back to at least the 1693 Sicily earthquake. Powerful shocks in 1693,1783, and 1908 as well as 1915 have killed over 30,000 people each, the earthquake took place at around 8,00 local time affecting thousands of people throughout central and southern Italy, the shaking was even felt in Rome. The town of Avezzano was literally toppled from the shaking and only one high-rise building survived, ninety-six percent of its population was eliminated almost simultaneously, the worst casualty zone. Several other settlements were demolished in the worst of the earthquake and this damage was attributed to the length of the shock, over 1 minute, and the enormous amount of energy released during the tremor. Compound motion of the fault was also a contributor to the earthquakes destruction. The structure of the housing also contributed to the collapse, many homes had been built from rocks of varying size and were not reinforced by mortar or even wood. Damage of the earthquake was distributed throughout central and southern Italy, st Johns Lateran reported one fallen statue in addition to cracks in the Column of Marcus Aurelius, Rome experienced other minor damage. In fact, damage from the earthquake was diverse, either the location was destroyed or experienced little to no damage, survivors were pulled out slowly from the ruins of earthquake-stricken zones. One man survived in a barn for a period of 25 days living solely off of grains, after a short time the searchers ran out of space to dispose of the debris as it was too overwhelming in mass, forcing the workers to give up. Robinson later described, the work of excavation seemed to go on in an unsystematic. Initial reports did not mention serious damage, and not until later that night did the scale of the devastation become clear, the government in Rome assumed local authorities had delayed reporting the facts, and it was rumored that they even tried to remove one mayor from office. However, when trying to serve him notice it became clear that he, because of World War I the government decided not to accept foreign assistance, and a national rescue and relief effort was promptly started. List of earthquakes in 1915 List of earthquakes in Italy

The Orsini family is an Italian noble family; it was one of the most influential princely families in medieval Italy …

Palazzo Orsini in Fara Sabina, northern Lazio, central Italy. The Orsini were amongst the main feudatories in Italy from the Middle Ages onwards, holding a great numbers of fiefs and lordships in Lazio and in the Kingdom on Naples.